Summary of eRumor:
The FBI has issued a warrant for President Obama's arrest after revelations that he wiretapped Trump Tower's phone lines ahead of the 2016 election.
The Truth:
A fake news website is behind false reports that the FBI has issued a warrant for Obama's arrest because he ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower.
President Trump stirred the controversy in a series of tweets on March 5, 2017, in which he accused President Obama of wiretapping his phone lines:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/837989835818287106
President Trump didn't back up those claims, instead asking the Senate Intelligence Committee to investigate. Meanwhile, FBI Director James Comey and other senior intelligence officials shot back that Trump's claims were baseless, and Obama didn't authorize the wiretapping of Trump Tower.
As is often the case, a fake news website stepped in to fill the void between what was known and what was unknown in the case. The Last Line of Defense reported a warrant had been issued for Obama's arrest in a story appearing under the headline, "BREAKING: FBI Issues Warrant For Obama’s Arrest After Confirming Illegal Trump Tower Wiretap." The story begins:

Advertisement

Former president and breaker of laws, Barack Obama, will either surrender himself or be picked up by the FBI sometime today to be booked and charged with unlawful use of authority, wire fraud and conspiracy to interfere with free elections after it was confirmed that he ordered the tapping of the phones at Trump Tower during the presidential election.

The order, which isn’t something even a president can do without the signature of a federal judge, was to listen in on Trump and his children to try to find a connection to Russia. Nothing came of it since President Trump nor any of his campaign staff have ever been to, spoken with or had anything to do with Russia or its agents.

The false report was quickly shared nearly 20,000 times on social media sites, leading many to believe that the story was actually true. However, The Last Line of Defense makes clear in its disclaimer that the site isn't a trustworthy news site:

DISCLAIMER: The Resistance may include information from sources that may or may not be reliable and facts that don’t necessarily exist. All articles should be considered satirical and any and all quotes attributed to actual people complete and total baloney. Pictures that represent actual people should be considered altered and not in any way real.

Reports that the FBI issued a warrant for Obama's arrest are false, and senior intelligence officials have disputed Trump's claims that Obama ordered a wiretap on Trump Tower phones before the 2016 election.